


Five Ways to Show Love Without Sex

by toxic_corn



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-11-28
Updated: 2006-11-28
Packaged: 2018-11-07 14:04:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11060547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toxic_corn/pseuds/toxic_corn
Summary: It's the little things that count.





	Five Ways to Show Love Without Sex

**Author's Note:**

> Written for annabelleofga.

1\. Blanket

 

It had been a long, hard day and everyone was exhausted. Of course, it didn’t help that no one had gotten any sleep the night before; the heating coil blew and everyone had been kept awake, shivering.

 

River left the infirmary, rubbing her arm and frowning. She would take Simon’s medicine but that didn’t mean she had to like it. So caught up in her own inner monologue, she almost missed Jayne on the common room couch.

 

He had worked second hardest of all, just after Kaylee who had been trying to fix the heating problem all day. Now he had flopped onto the nearest comfortable-seeming piece of furniture, not that she blamed him. 

 

She took a few steps closer. He looked so young when he was asleep. Peaceful. Of course, the mouth hanging open and the bit of drool at the corner of his mouth weren’t going to help him earn the title of Sleeping Beauty, but still. He looked… sweet.

 

And cold. She lightly ran a finger over the goosebumps on one of his mighty arms. Poor big man. Kaylee had fixed the heating for the most part but it still wasn’t up to standard room temperature. Not for a few hours yet.

 

She could help the sleeping giant, though.

~*~

“Doc.”

 

Simon looked up from his clipboard and frowned at Jayne. “Yes?”

 

He held out a blanket. “Sorta passed out on the couch there. Thanks for the loan.”

 

Simon took it, puzzled. “This isn’t my blanket.”

 

“It came from the passenger dorms, I just figured-”

 

“This is River’s.”

 

Both men gave each other surprised looks.

 

“Huh,” Jayne said.

 

 

2\. Sliver

 

Visiting Kaylee’s planet hadn’t been the best idea. Her ma had taken one look at the crew and didn’t see her daughter’s coworkers but free labor. Now, Jayne was chopping wood and River was collecting the pieces and stacking them in the pile next to the shed. It had a good rhythm to it; swinging, making the connection, and watching the log split in half. Then the girl would grab the pieces and he’d wait until she had skipped away before setting up the next log and swinging.

 

He wasn’t so caught up in his work that he didn’t miss River’s soft hiss of pain.

 

“What?” He hadn’t gotten her with the axe, had he? He thought he’d been careful! But when he turned to face her, she was frowning at her palm. 

 

“Sliver,” she said, holding her hand up for him to see.

 

“Well, let’s get it out,” Jayne grumbled and grabbed her arm.

 

“Given enough time, the human body will force out an alien entity!” River protested as he hauled her into the house.

 

“Yeah, well, we gotta have that wood split ‘n stacked today; we don’t got time.” Jayne pulled her along upstairs to the guest room Inara had been set up in.

 

River faltered at the door. “Why are we-”

 

“You seen ‘Nara’s eyebrows? The woman’s bound t’ have tweezers.” He released River’s arm quickly when he realized he was holding her gently, letting his fingers drift over her soft skin. Now, tweezers. Where do women hide those things? Suddenly, the idea of rootin’ around in a respected Companion’s stuff didn’t seem like such a hot idea.

 

“Second drawer on the left, black bag,” River said.

 

Jayne looked and found the tweezers. When wasn’t the girl right? “Okay, sit down over there by the window so I can see what I’m doing.”

 

River sat down on the window seat and looked at him expectantly. He couldn’t really see her face that well with her back to the light and somehow that made him nervous. She held her hand out to him and for the life of him he couldn’t remember what he was supposed to do.

 

“Not much time,” she gently reminded him.

 

“Oh.” Jayne shook himself. “Right.” He knelt down in front of her and held her hand up to the light. He spotted the injured area right away; her otherwise creamy pale skin was red and blotchy where the splinter had dug its way into her skin. Pretty deep from the looks of it.

 

She hissed softly as he poked the tweezers into her flesh.

 

“Aw, hush, I ain’t done nothin’ yet,” Jayne muttered.

 

“Stings,” she said apologetically.

 

“Yeah, hold on, I’ll get this out quick.”

 

She whined softly but bit her lip as he gently eased the sliver out of her hand. “There we go.” He held it up into the light triumphantly. “Pretty big one, huh?”

 

“My hero,” River said dryly but she’d turned her face so he could see she was smiling at him.

 

“Ahem.” Inara stood in the doorway, looking puzzled. “What exactly is going on in here?”

 

“Sliver. Jayne saved me.” River blew on her hand and winked at him. “Thank you.”

 

“Welcome,” he muttered. She got up and left the room in a pretty flutter of skirts, leaving Jayne stumbling to his feet in her wake. He started to follow her but Inara stopped him with a hand to his arm.

 

“Look, I know she’s young,” he snarled. “We weren’t doin’ nothin’ wrong in here and I don’t plan on-”

 

“I just want my tweezers back, Jayne.”

 

“Oh. Well, here.”

~*~

River was waiting for him by the stump and neatly caught the leather gloves he threw her way. They were large on her but they’d protect her from any other wooden shards that tried to pierce her flesh.

 

“No use to me injured,” Jayne explained, turning his back on her brilliant smile.

 

 

3\. T-Shirt 

 

“Happy birthday, Jayne!” Kaylee beamed at him, bringing out the cake. “Make a wish!”

 

Jayne thought about it for a moment and then blew out the candles. River wondered what he had wished for but chose not to peek and find out. It wouldn’t come true if she knew it, after all.

 

Then it was time for the gifts. Jayne received plugs of chewing tobacco, cigars, a new holster, and a new blanket. With each reveal, River’s worry over her own present grew and grew. Was it sufficiently manly?

 

Finally, Jayne got to her present. She felt her stomach flutter nervously as he shook the package. What if he hated it? What if he made fun of it? She wanted to cover her eyes as he ripped the paper open and pulled away the box’s lid.

 

“Hey,” he said, softly, moving aside the tissue paper.

 

River had drawn two of Jayne’s guns, Megan and Angie, to the best of her ability. When he’d been cleaning them at the table, she’d sat a little ways away, sketching secretly to get the girls’ curves just right. She’d added the names to the barrels in her best calligraphic writing and added the Chinese characters for “Power” and “Glory.” Then she’d had the design screened on to a blue t-shirt.

 

Jayne stared at the t-shirt for a long minute. Oh god. He didn’t like it. Finally, he looked up at her.

 

“This looks like one o’ yer drawings. Did you make this?”

 

River nodded.

 

Simon peered over Jayne’s shoulder. “River, that’s good!”

 

“Good?” Jayne snorted and River’s heart sank. “It’s _great_.”

 

The shirt got passed around so everyone could see it. The crew was so distracted that they missed the secret smile Jayne and River shared.

 

4\. Manners 

 

“That went suspiciously well, wouldn’t you say, Zoe?”

 

“I’m waiting for the catch myself, sir.”

 

Jayne and River kept their eyes trained behind them from their customary place in the back of the mule. The last thing they wanted was for some buzzards to have witnessed the drop and to get the idea to follow them hoping for some quick cashy money.

 

But they made it back to _Serenity_ in one piece without so much as a dollar missing. Mal seemed almost disappointed.

 

Kaylee closed the doors. “All go well, Cap’n?”

 

“Yeah, no trouble at all.” Mal hopped out of the mule and walked to the back. “What do you suppose you’re-” He paused when he found Jayne in his way. “What are ya doin’?”

 

Jayne had his hand out, helping River down from the mule. The big man looked embarrassed for a second. “I was just helpin’ the girl out is all.”

 

Mal raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You’re helping her? You?”

 

“Yeah,” Jayne said, defensively. “Why’s that so hard t’ believe?”

 

“Because you’re Jayne,” Zoe said, frankly.

 

“You never cared enough to help her before,” Kaylee added, interested in the show going on.

 

“I care!” Jayne exclaimed, then realized what he said. He slowly looked at River and frowned at her stunned look of surprise. God, everyone sure thought well of him, didn’t they?

 

“Well, she’s on the ground now, you can let go of her hand,” Mal said.

 

Jayne dropped River’s hand quickly. “This is why I don’t do nice things,” he snapped.

 

 

5\. Message 

 

Jayne rolled off the bed and went stumbling over to the sink. He couldn’t wait to get the hell out of his bunk. Since Mal put him on the spot yesterday, he’d been avoiding everyone, especially the girl. He hadn’t meant to blurt out what he said, but after he’d said it, he realized it was true. He cared about River. A lot. More than he’d ever cared for anyone. Now that he recognized those feelings, he wasn’t sure how the hell he was supposed to act around her now. 

 

Probably traumatized her, knowing some old lecher was pantin’ after her.

 

He glanced into the mirror, glaring at his reflection and then startled back a step at what he saw. Someone had written on his forehead! Swearing softly, he leaned forward to read what it said. Whoever had written it had thought to write it backwards so he could read it in the mirror. Only one person he knew was smart enough to think of that. And only one person who would write what he saw there.

 

_I care about you, too._

The End


End file.
